Tools

Streb Forces

When: March 18-19, 7:30 p.m. 2014

Why do we go on roller coasters and carnival rides? It seems we occasionally have to reground ourselves in our bodies by nearly getting ourselves thrown out of them. Self-styled "action architect" and choreographer Elizabeth Streb got the necessity of that, long ago. Ever since, this MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow has pursued what she calls extreme action, reopening fundamental questions about our bodies' relationships with the forces of nature. Her trademark—a high-energy remix of cirque, gymnastics, Newtonian physics, modern dance and risk—"doesn't so much push the boundaries of strength and endurance as it removes them," Gia Kourlas observed in the New York Times. The rush is visceral, as superbly trained athletes catapult onto and off of whizzing multi-story machines, dodge careening I-beams and fly through an evening the New Yorker termed "a human fireworks display."
—Byron Woods